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12.06.2011

It is hard enough to get young Black boys to get
up on time for school let alone up early on a Saturday morning. Throw something
educational in the mix instead of entertainment and your chances may get even
slimmer.

Hold up. Wait a minute. That's a stereotypical pandemic that we assume has infected the entire population of the minds of our
youngsters. For the record: It’s not totally true.

Evidence of this happened this past Saturday on
December 3 when noted community servant Deric Muhammad partnered with Lone Star
College once again to host the 2nd Annual SMART’N UP Black Male
Summit on Education at the Lone Star College Victory Center in the Acres Homes
area. Alicia Jackson, a brilliant mother of two set of twins, assisted greatly
to ensure the entire day flowed smoothly from 9am – 2pm.

Just like last year, the young attendees forsook
their beds, window shopping at the mall, cartoons and Wii systems to arm their
most important weapon: The Mind.

Deric Muhammad kicked the morning off with a
message about the importance of the putting the right information in the mind. “Anything you put in your
mind you will become. If you want to get different results in your life you
have to put different information in your mind,” he said.

It
was during last year’s summit that Brother Deric announced that he would be
leading by example and enrolling at Lone Star College. He has made his word
bond by taking classes online and on campus. I personally witnessed him once cramming
to take an online Spanish test at our mother’s home. He has also shared with me
how he has enjoyed certain discussions in a class. Proud of you big brother!

Ok,
back to the summit. He went deeper into how we all can get knocked down by
negativity and trials, but we all have the choice to “punch back.” Since he’s a
huge fan of boxing, he put on the gloves to drive the point home. With the help
of boxing trainer Juan Muhammad, he threw several punches and even broke a little sweat.
(smile)

“What
do you do after you "get hit"? You punch back!...Depending on how you
look at the situation will determine if it is negative or positive. You can be
a master at it if you put the right information in your mind,” he said. Next
the boys attended three consecutive workshops by Durce Muhammad, Robert Moore,
and some guy named Brother Jesse.

Durce Muhammad’s PowerPoint on the true power and purpose
of education provoked deep thought and moments of laughter due to his excellent
ability to connect to his audience. He closed out by giving a scenario showing
what would happen if people with certain skills were stranded on an island
together. One island had people on it such as a doctor, architect, carpenter,
engineer and the other island had a rapper, pimp and a star athlete. His point:
Which one would be able to build something up to sustain their lives on the
island?

Robert Moore is one of the top laptop distributors
in the city and said when he desired to step out on his vision, he had many
doubters. He also walked everyone through the bad decisions he survived to
become the successful entrepreneur he is today. “Never let anyone take you
off course when God has given you a vision,” he said.

In
my session, I spoke on “Information Warfare: Taking Control of the Black Male
Image.” It was based on the principle taught by the Most Honorable Elijah
Muhammad: You don’t have to condemn a dirty glass. Just set a clean glass up
next to it. I shared strategies on how we can take control of our images by
creating our own media, using available online tools to promote the positive
things being done by the Black community and eliminating excuses. I closed by
saying that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Well, it would be insane to keep expecting the
White corporate-controlled media and Hollywood to portray us in a positive
light. We have to do it.

After
the workshops, everyone enjoyed lunch and further dialogue. What a great way to
spend a Saturday morning. Let’s
continue to SMART’N UP!